Kilmarnock boss Derek McInnes reckons Chris Burke's retirement call will prove to be right one

Derek McInnes reckons Chris Burke will do wonders for his coaching career by working with Kilmarnock.

The winger has retired despite considering his options of moving to another club and staying active as a player.

But after weighing up his options, he decided a full-time coaching role at Killie was the best choice for his future.

And gaffer McInnes feels Burke has done the right thing by joining his staff.

Burke will help across the club, including first team duties along with academy and reserves roles.

McInnes said: “I wasn’t surprised when he said no to the opportunity, I knew how important it was for him to keep playing.

“I think he wanted to keep playing as long as he could, that’s the advice anyone in football would give him.

“I think he had to have that bit of time to realise himself and come to his own decision of what he wants.

“When he’s been playing at a level of his career that maybe the offer we were giving him was the best option.

“We want him still to be part of the playing side, we’ve signed up to a reserve league which won’t be loads of games, maybe 12, so he can get his fix through the odd game of that, so he will register as a player in that side.

“But his main role and focus is the next part of his career which is coaching, the opportunity to come in and work with us, get his coaching hours up, within six months he’ll have done so much work that it’s going to accelerate his development.

“He’s in the early stages of that, he’s been dipping his toe in working on a part-time basis last season, but when I spoke to the club and indicated I wasn’t going to offer him a playing contract we tried to find a solution.

“I was grateful the club were able to offer him a full time academy role, it feels right for us, but it had to feel right for him, he deserved the time to decide.

“He was appreciative of the fact we didn’t move on, we never filled the role and it was specifically for him to keep him involved."

McInnes added: “He’s a really good listener and takes in information really well, but anyone who does coaching has to have a love for the game and want to get out there in all sorts of weather to improve and that’s exactly him.

“He is eager to learn, he’s always asking questions, he’s done well at the game from a financial point of view which means he probably doesn’t need to do this, he obviously felt he wanted to be the best coach he could possibly be.

“He’s a good person as well, he’s really popular with everyone round about, and his association with the club is clear, it was important for us that it continued."

Meanwhile McInnes is hoping to get new bodies into Rugby Park this week.

He said: “I am working on something now, we are hopint to get that resolved.

“It might not be sorted by the time of the Partick game, but we are giving it every chance.

“We have received encouragement on two or three other things, but hopefully over the coming days we will be able to announce one or two."

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